Researchers Olympus of Germany

Research for Industry
That the achievements of scientists can also be used is ensured by German machinery and system producers. Companies such as Grenzebach, Leybold Optics and Von Ardenne are among the global leading suppliers. Around the globe, thin-film factories are being equipped with their manufacturing equipment. The production specialists will be presenting their innovations between 28th September and 1st October 2010 at the world’s leading trade fair of the glass industry, glasstec, and at the trade fair for solar production technology, solarpeq which is taking place at the same time in Düsseldorf.

German researchers are already well in the lead with the market-dominating silicon cells, “In the USA, the opinion prevails that the present technology is not suitable for producing cost-effective solar energy. Therefore, practical silicon research is really missing out,” explains Tonio Buonassisi, head of the photovoltaic laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. German researchers, on the other hand, are particularly creative when it comes to silicone: Various crystalline concepts are almost ready for commercial realisation: Stiebel-Eltron, for example, wants to manufacture a so-called rear contact cell developed by the Institut für Solarenergieforschung in Hameln (ISFH), which can convert considerably more light into energy than a conventional cell thanks to a completely shadow-free front. In its research centre in Saxony-Anhalt, Q-Cells is testing production procedures for similar cell types.

The fact that innovations can bubble away here in Germany despite the economic crisis has a decisive reason, “The rapid growth of the photovoltaic market and industry has accelerated solar research,” explains ISE head Eicke Weber. In this way, German institutes are now receiving the majority of their assignments from the expanding photovoltaic manufacturers – for the ISE, the proportion of industry projects is 40 percent. Thanks to the lively demand for research and development services, their employee figures have grown rapidly. The quality and depth of the research has also increased. This, in turn, helps the German solar industry to compete with hard international competition which is why it is focussing on close cooperations with research departments. The Bonn-based photovoltaics corporation, Solarworld, for example, is currently equipping a modern research and development centre at their main production site in Freiberg, where the company wants to make new technologies ready for series production in close cooperation with the TU Bergakademie Freiberg.